Mullins believes cup will lift U's

First published
in Sport
by David Pritchard, Chief Sports Reporter covering Oxford United. Follow us on twitter: @oxfordmailoufc. Call me on 01865 425458

Johnny Mullins is confident Oxford United’s midweek cup exertions will be a help rather than a hindrance in the search for their first points of the season today.

The U’s prop up Sky Bet League Two after losing their first four matches, ahead of a clash with Dagenham & Redbridge at the Kassam Stadium.

While the Londoners have had a whole week to prepare for the game, United were in Capital One Cup action on Tuesday night.

They played for 120 minutes against West Bromwich Albion, before eventually losing on a penalty shoot-out.

Mullins admits Dagenham will be looking to take advantage of any lingering fatigue.

But the centre back thinks the boost generated from their cup heroics against Premier League opposition will more than cancel it out.

He said: “They will probably be saying we’ve had a tough game and look to get at us, but on the flip-side of it the confidence we’ll have taken from Tuesday and the belief that we are getting within the squad will hopefully outweigh that.

“We’re just looking at it as a league game we want to win and we’re going into it positively and in a fresh frame of mind.

“We’ve shown we can match anyone and if we can play like we did on Tuesday from the second half on, we will win.

“We just think once one drops that a few will and we’re confident that if we keep believing in what we’re doing, the tide will turn.”

Head coach Michael Appleton is optimistic his men will have no problems coping with the physical demands.

“I said to the players if they come in and I get a sense of it being after the Lord Mayor’s Show, then they will be put into place very quickly,” he commented.

“I think a lot of the players came through the game well enough. I thought we looked a fit side on Tuesday night.”

United youngsters Aiden Hawtin and Josh Shama have joined Southern League Banbury United on a month’s loan, while Matt Bevans has gone to Conference South Farnborough for a month.